[101] PAGE 38, LINE 36. Page 38, line 42. _vruntur;_ changed in ink to _vrantur_ in the folio of 1600; but _uruntur_ appears in the editions of 1628 and 1633.

[102] PAGE 39, LINE 12. Page 39, line 12. _virumque;_ altered in ink to _virunque_ in all copies of the folio edition of 1600.

[103] PAGE 40, LINE 32. Page 40, line 33. _ad tantos labores exantlandos._--Pumping, as it was in mining before the invention of the steam engine, may best be realized by examining the woodcuts in the _De re metallica_ of Georgius Agricola (Basil., Froben, 1556).

[104] PAGE 40, LINE 34. Page 40, line 36. _quingentas orgyas._--Gilbert probably had in his mind the works of the Rorerbuhel, in the district of Kitzbuhl, which in the sixteenth century had reached the depth of 3,107 feet. See Humboldt's _Cosmos_ (Lond., 1860, vol. i., p. 149).

[105] PAGE 43, LINE 34. Page 43, line 33. _glis._--This word, here translated _grit_, does not appear to be classical Latin; it may mean _ooze or slime_.

[106] PAGE 45, LINE 25. Page 45, line 26. _Motus igitur ... quinque._ The five kinds of magnetic motions correspond in fact to the remaining sections of the book; as follows: _Coitio_, Book II.; _Directio_, Book III.; _Variatio_, Book IV.; _Declinatio_, Book V.; and _Revolutio_, Book VI.

[107] PAGE 46, LINE 7. Page 46, line 8. _Jofrancus Offusius._--The reference is to the treatise _De divina astrorum faculitate_ of Johannes Franciscus Offusius (Paris, 1570).

[108] PAGE 47, LINE 15. Page 47, line 18. _Graeci vocant_ [Greek: elektron], _quia ad se paleas trahit._ In this discussion of the names given to amber, Gilbert apparently conceives [Greek: elektron] to be derived from the verb [Greek: helkein]; which is manifestly a doubtful etymology. There has been much discussion amongst philologists as to the derivation of [Greek: elektron] or [Greek: elektron], and its possible connection with the word [Greek: elektor]. This discussion has been somewhat obscured by the circumstance that the Greek authors unquestionably used [Greek: elektron]

(and the Latins their word _electrum_) in two different significations, some of them using these words to mean amber, others to mean a shining {32} metal, apparently of having qualities between those of gold and silver, and probably some sort of alloy. Schweigger, _Ueber das Elektron der Alten_ (Greifswald, 1848), has argued that this metal was indeed no other than platinum: but his argument partakes too much of special pleading. Those who desire to follow the question of the derivation of [Greek: elektron] may consult the following authorities: J. M. Gessner, _De Electro Veterum_ (Commentt. Soc. Reg. Scientt. Goetting., vol. iii., p. 67, 1753); Delaunay, _Mineralogie der Alten_, Part II., p. 125; Buttmann, _Mythologus_ (Appendix I., _Ueber das Elektron_), Vol. II., p. 355, in which he adopts Gilbert's derivation from [Greek: helkein]; Beckmann, _Ursprung und Bedeutung des Bernsteinnamens Elektron_ (Braunsberg, 1859); Th. Henri Martin, _Du Succin, de ses noms divers et de ses varietes suivant les anciens_ (Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, Tome VI., 1^{re} serie, 1^{re} partie, 1860); Martinus Scheins, _De Electro Veterum Metallico_ (Inaugural dissertation, Berlin, 1871); F. A. Paley, _Gold Worship in relation to Sun Worship_ (Contemporary Review, August, 1884). See also Curtius, _Grundzuge der griechischen Etymologie_, pp. 656-659. The net result of the disputations of scholars appears to be that [Greek: elektor]

(he who shines) is a masculine form to which there corresponds the neuter form [Greek: elektron] (that which shines). Stephanus admits the accentuation used by Gilbert, [Greek: elektron], to be justified from the _Timaeus_ of Plato; see Note to p. 61.

[109] PAGE 47, LINE 16. Page 47, line 19. [Greek: harpax] dicitur, & [Greek: chrusophoron].--With respect to the other names given to amber, M.

Th. Henri Martin has written (see previous note) so admirable an account of them that it is impossible to better it. It is therefore given here entire, as follows:

"Le succin a recu chez les anciens des noms tres-divers. Sans parler du nom de [Greek: lunkourion], lyncurium, qui peut-etre ne lui appartient pas, comme nous le montrerons plus loin, il s'est nomme chez les Grecs le plus souvent [Greek: elektron] au neutre,^1 mais aussi [Greek: elektros] au masculin^2 et meme au feminin,^3 [Greek: chruselektros],^4 [Greek: chrusophoros]^5 et peut-etre, comme nous l'avons vu, [Greek: chalkolithanon]; plus tard [Greek: souchion]^6 ou [Greek: souchinos]^7, et [Greek: elektrianos lithos];^8 plus tard encore [Greek: berenike], [Greek: beronike] ou [Greek: bernike];^9 il s'est nomme [Greek: harpax] chez les Grecs etablis en Syrie;^{10} chez les Latins _succinum_, _electrum_, et deux varietes, _chryselectrum_ et _sualiternicum_ {33} ou _subalternicum_;^{11} chez les Germains, _Gless_;^{12} chez les Scythes, _sacrium_;^{13} chez les Egyptiens, _sacal_;^{14} chez les Arabes, _karabe_^{15} ou _kahraba_;^{16} en persan, _karuba_.^{17} Ce mot, qui appartient bien a la langue persane, y signifie _attirant la paille_, et par consequent exprime l'attraction electrique, de meme que le mot [Greek: harpax] des Grecs de Syrie. En outre, le nom de _haur roumi_ (_peuplier romain_) etait donne par les Arabes, non-seulement a l'arbre dont ils croyaient que le succin etait la gomme, mais au succin lui-meme. _Haur roumi_, transforme en _aurum_ par les traducteurs latins des auteurs arabes, et consondu mal a propos avec _ambar_ ou _ambrum_, nom arabe latinise de l'ambre gris, a produit le nom moderne d'_ambre_, nom commun a l'_ambre jaune_ ou succin, qui est une resine fossile, et a l'_ambre gris_, concretion odorante qui se forme dans les intestines des cachalots. On ne peut dire avec certitude si le nom de basse grecite [Greek: bernike] est la source ou le derive de _Bern_, radical du nom allemand du succin (_Bernstein_). Quoi qu'il en soit, le mot [Greek: bernike] a produit _vernix_, nom d'une gomme dans la basse latinite, d'ou nous avons fait _vernis_.^{18}"

^1 Voyez Herodote, III., 115; Platon, _Timee_, p. 80 c; Aristote, _Meteor._, IV., 10; Theophraste, _Hist. des plantes_, IX., 18 (19), -- 2; _Des pierres_, -- 28 et 29; Diodore de Sic., V., 23; Strabon, IV., 6, n^o 2, p. 202 (Casaubon); Dioscoride, _Mat. med._, I., 110; Plutarque, _Questions de table_, II., 7, -- 1; _Questions platoniques_, VII., 1 et 7; Lucien, _Du succin et des cygnes_; le meme, _De Pastrologie_, -- 19; S. Clement, _Strom._ II., p. 370 (Paris, 1641, in-fol.); Alexandre d'Aphr., _Quest. phys. et mor._, II., 23; Olympiodore, _Meteor._, I., 8, fol. 16, t. I., p. 197 (Ideler) et l'abreviateur d'Etienne de Byzance au mot [Greek: elektrides].

^2 Voyez Sophocle, _Antigone_, v. 1038, et dans Eustathe, sur l'_Iliade_, II., 865; Elien, _Nat. des animaux_, IV. 46; Quintus de Smyrne, V., 623; Eustathe, sur la _Periegese_ de Denys, p. 142 (Bernhardy), et sur l'_Odyssee_, IV., 73; et Suidas au mot [Greek: huale].

^3 Voyez Alexandre, _Problemes_, sect. 1, prooem., p. 4 (Ideler); Eustathe, sur l'_Odyssee_, IV., 73, et Tzetzes, _Chiliade_ VI., 650.

^4 Voyez Psellus, _Des pierres_, p. 36 (Bernard et Maussac).

^5 Voyez Dioscoride, _Mat. med._, I., 110.

^6 Voyez S. Clement, _Strom._, II., p. 370 (Paris, 1641, in-fol.). Il parait distinguer l'un de l'autre [Greek: to souchion] et [Greek: to elektron], probablement parce qu'il attribue a tort au metal [Greek: elektron] la propriete attractive du succin.

^7 Voyez le faux Zoroastre, dans les _Geoponiques_, XV., 1, -- 29.

^8 Voyez le faux Zoroastre, au meme endroit.

^9 Voyez Eustathe, sur l'_Odyssee_, IV., 73; Tzetzes, _Chil._ VI., 650; Nicolas Myrepse, _Antidotes_, ch. 327, et l'Etymol. Gud. au mot [Greek: elektron]. Comparez Saumaise, Exert. plin., p. 778.

^{10} Voyez Pline, XXXVII., 2, s. 11, n^o 37.

^{11} Voyez Pline, XXXVII., 2, s. 11-13, et Tacite, _Germanie_, ch. 45.

La forme _sualiternicum_, dans Pline (s. 11, n^o 33), est donnee par le manuscrit de Bamberg et par M. Sillig (t. V., p. 390), au lieu de la forme _subalternicum_ des editions anterieures.

^{12} Voyez Tacite et Pline, _ll. cc._

^{13} Voyez Pline, XXXVII., 2, s. 11, n^o 40, Comp. J. Grimm, _Gesch.

der deutsch. Sprache_, Kap. x., p. 233 (Leipzig, 1848, in-8).

^{14} Pline, _l. c._

^{15} Voyez Saumaise, _De homon. hyles iatricae_, c. 101, p. 162 (1689, in-fol.).

^{16} Voyez Sprengel, sur Dioscoride, t. II., pp. 390-391.

^{17} Voyez M. de Sacy, cite par Buttmann, _Mythologus_, t. II., pp.

362-363.

^{18} Voyez Saumaise, _Ex. plin._, p. 778. Il n'est pas probable que le mot [Greek: bernike] ou [Greek: berenike] nom du succin dans la grecite du moyen age, soit lie etymologiquement avec le nom propre [Greek: berenike], qui vient de l'adjectif macedonien [Greek: berenikos] pour [Greek: pherenikos].

[110] PAGE 47, LINE 17. Page 47, line 20. _Mauri vero Carabem appellant, quia solebant in sacrificijs, & deorum cultu ipsum libare. Carab enim significat offerre Arabice; ita Carabe, res oblata; aut rapiens paleas, vt Scaliger ex Abohali citat, ex lingua Arabica, vel Persica._--The printed text, line 18, has "Non rapiens paleas," but in all copies of the folio of 1600, the "Non" has been altered in ink into "aut," possibly by Gilbert's own hand. Nevertheless the editions of 1628 and 1633 both read "Non." There appears to be no doubt that the origin of the word _Carabe_, or _Karabe_, as assigned by Scaliger, is substantially correct. As shown in the preceding note, Martin adopted this view. If any doubt should remain it will be removed by the following notes which are due to Mr. A. Houtum Schindler (member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers), of Terahan.

Reference is made to the magnetic and electric properties of stones in three early Persian lapidaries. There are three stones only mentioned, amber, loadstone, and garnet. The electric property of the diamond is not mentioned. The following extracts are from the _Tansuk namah_, by Nasir ed din Tusi, A.D. 1260. The two other treatises give the first extracts in the same words.

"_Kahruba_, also _Kahraba_ [Amber],

"Is yellow and transparent, and has its name from the property, which it possesses, of attracting small, dry pieces of straw or grass, after it has been rubbed with cloth and become warm. [Note. In Persian, Kah = straw; ruba = the robber, hence Kahruba = the straw-robber.] Some consider it a mineral, and say that it is found in the Mediterranean and Caspian seas, floating on the surface, but this is not correct. The truth is that Kahruba {34} is the gum of a tree, called joz i rumi [_i.e._, roman nut; walnut?], and that most of it is brought from Rum [here the Eastern Rome] and from the confines of Sclavonia and Russia. On account of its bright colour and transparency it is made into beads, rings, belt-buckles, &c. ... &c.

"The properties of attraction and repulsion are possessed by other substances than loadstone, for instance, by amber and bijadah,^1 which attract straws, feathers, etc., and of many other bodies, it can be said that they possess the power of attraction. There is also a stone which attracts gold; it has a pure yellow colour. There is also a stone which attracts silver from distances of three or two yards. There are also the stone which attracts tin, very hard, and smelling like asafoetida, the stone attracting hair, the stone attracting meat, etc., but, latterly, no one has seen these stones: no proof, however, that they do not exist."

Avicenna (Ibn Sina) gives the following under the heading of _Karabe_ (see _Canona Medicinae_, Giunta edition, Venet., 1608, lib. ii., cap. 371, p.

336):

"Karabe quid est? Gumma sicut sandaraca, tendens ad citrinitatem, & albedinem, & peruietatem, & quandoque declinat ad rubedinem, quae attrahit paleas, & [fracturas] plantarum ad se, & propter hoc nominatur Karabe, scilicet rapiens paleas, persice.... Karabe confert tremori cordis, quum bibitur ex eo medietas aurei cum aqua frigida, & prohibet sputum sanguinis valde.... Retinet vomitum, & prohibet materias malas a stomacho, & cum mastiche confortat stomachum.... Retinet fluxum sanguinis ex matrice, & ano, & fluxum ventris, & confert tenasmoni."

Scaliger in _De Subtilitate_, _Exercitatio_ ciii., -- 12, the passage referred to by Gilbert says: "Succinum apud Arabas uocatur, Carabe: quod princeps Aboali, rapiens paleas, interpretatur" (p. 163 _bis_, editio Lutetiae, 1557).

^1 _Bijadah_ is classified by Muhammad B. Mansur (A.D. 1470) and by Ibn al Mubarak (A.D. 1520) under "stones resembling ruby"; the Tansuk namah describes it in a separate chapter. From the description it can be identified with the almandine garnet, and the method of cutting this stone _en cabochon_, with hollow back in order to display its colour better is specially mentioned. The Tansuk namah only incidentally refers to the electric property of the _bijadah_ in the chapter on loadstone, but the other two treatises specially refer to it in their description of the stone. The one has: "_Bijadah_ if rubbed until warm, attracts straws and other light bodies just as amber does"; the other: "_Bijadah_, if rubbed on the hair of the head, or on the beard, attracts straws." Sururi, the lexicographer, who compiled a dictionary in 1599, considers the _bijadah_ "a red ruby which possesses the property of attraction." Other dictionaries do not mention the attractive property, but some authors confound the stone with amber, calling it _Kabruba_, the straw-robber. The _bijadah_ is not rubellite (red tourmaline) for it is described in the lapidaries as common, whereas rubellite (from Ceylon) has always been rare, and was unknown in Persia in the thirteenth century.

[111] PAGE 47, LINE 21. Page 47, line 25. _Succinum seu succum._--Dioscorides regarded amber as the inspissated juice of the poplar tree. From the Frankfurt edition of 1543 (_De Medicinali materia, etc._) edited by Ruellius, we have, liber i., p. 53:

_Populus._ Cap. XCIII.

"... Lachrymam populorum commemorant quae in Padum amnem defluat, durari, ac coire in succinum, quod electrum vocant, alii chrysophorum. id attritu jucundum odorem spirat, et aurum colore imitatur. tritum potumque stomachi ventrisque fluxiones sistit."

To this Ruellius adds the commentary:

"Succinum seu succina gutta a succo dicta, Graecis [Greek: elektrom] [sic], esse {35} lachryma populi albae, vel etiam nigrae quibusdam videtur, ab ejusdem arboris resina. Dioscoridi et Galeno dicta differens et [Greek: pterugophoros], id est paleas trahens, quoque vocatur, quantum ei quoque Galenus tribuit li. 37, ca. 9. Succinum scribit a quibusdam pinei generis arboribus, ut gummi a cerasis excidere autumno, et largum mitti ex Germania septentrionali, et insulis maris Germanici. quod hodie nobis est compertissimum: ad haec liquata igni valentiore, quia a frigido intensiore concrevit. pineam aperte olet, calidum primo gradu, siccum secundo, stomachum roborat, vomitum, nauseam arcet. cordis palpitationi prodest.

pravorem humorum generationem prohibet.

"Germani weiss und gelbaugstein et bre[=n]stein.

"Galli ambra vocant: vulgo in corollis precariis frequens."

In the scholia of Johann Lonicer in his edition of Dioscorides, we find, lib. i., cap. xcviii., _De nigra Populo_: